Mobile devices, such as hand-held electronic devices, wireless communication devices, and the like, are often suited for placement in a holster, such as a belt-mounted holster, or other holder, carry case, or the like. Typically, the mobile device will be placed in its holder when not in use, for example in order to protect and conveniently transport the device.
It is often desirable to automatically detect when the mobile device is holstered, and to alter operating conditions of the mobile device upon such detection. For example, input components such as keyboards, touch screens, and the like can be disabled when the mobile device is holstered, to avoid inadvertent key presses, which may cause undesired activation of mobile device functions, undesired settings changes, increased battery drain, and other problems.
Various solutions to this problem have been proposed, for example by adding a magnet and magnetic sensor to the holster and device, respectively, in order to trigger the mobile device into a standby mode upon detection of the holster magnet. Another solution proposes to add an RFID tag and RFID sensor to the holster and device for similar purposes. However, such solutions require additional hardware to be incorporated into the mobile device, which may increase device complexity, costs, and power requirements.
Therefore there is a need for a method and apparatus for facilitating proximity detection between a mobile device and a related object that overcomes one or more problems in the art.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.